Unfinished
by Twilight Antediluvian
Summary: WIP! Bleach story 8 see above . This one MAY NEVER BE FINISHED. At least, I have no intention of posting more within a foreseeable future.


"Karin! I haven't seen you in days, I've got _such news_!" I smiled at her, she seemed even sweeter now, somehow. There was still that tiny sting of jealousy, but after their wedding night… after Toushiro, it really didn't matter all that much.

"Take it easy." Oh, how I love her being so happy. It's like the whole world is brighter just for her. "I've got some pretty earthshaking stuff for you too, but you start."

"Karin, you won't believe it…" Well, that could have been a good start to my own news. "I'm pregnant." I stood paralysed for a moment, then I couldn't help but laugh ironically.

"Congratulations, Hisagi must be the happiest father on the planet. I was going to say the same thing really." Gosh, that was awkward, but at least it was out. Easier than I'd thought it would be, too.

"You... you're pregnant too?" Great. My own sister didn't believe me. I couldn't repeat myself, that was way too troublesome, but I could nod and that was all she needed. "That's so great! You do realise dad will force the poor man to marry you now, though?"

"That old goat can go ahead and try!" As if I'd ever tell him who it was. Yuzu laughed and that was enough for me.

"I can't believe we're both pregnant at the same time, that's just strange! Who's the father?"

"_You're what_?!" I was sure the shoji screen would be torn out of its sockets, the way that reckless idiot handled it.

"Ichi-nii, you're the one who says to knock before coming into someone's room!" I reminded him angrily. Having our brother know about things could complicate it, but I'd need to deal with people knowing sooner or later. When I looked at the doorway, though, I was even less amused. Toushiro. Ouch. Thank heavens for small favours that he was standing _behind_ my brother, who didn't see the absolute shock on his face.

"Karin, is…" Couldn't have him shouting _that_ over the rooftops, so I broke his train of thought firmly.

"Don't be an idiot, Ichigo. Our bearded bastard of a father will go through the roof about this as soon as he hears; you don't need to scream about it." Ugh, why was I getting the feeling that things would be out of hand _really_ soon?

"Yuzu-san." That was strange, Toushiro never spoke to her directly, usually. "You do realise she has a potentially worse problem here? Karin is much stronger than you and she has had no restrictions placed on her." Why were they talking like they had a secret? And why did Yuzu seem to understand all this? "You've had your hands on the right literature lately, I'm sure, would you mind getting it for her?" Hey, hey, _hey_!

"Why are you guys suddenly talking like I'm not _here_?" Yuzu didn't seem to notice my irritation, though. She looked way too serious for my tastes. Then she trooped out of the room with one last, worried smile at me, somehow catching my brother and managing to get him to walk with her without too much trouble. Then, we were alone again. Just me and Toushiro. He looked way too grim, though.

"Karin, do you know why none of the taichou or fukutaichou have children?" I just shook my head, wondering how bad this was going to be. "There are two reasons, mainly. The official one is that it's a risk; a woman with a strong reiatsu that she can't control for great periods of time really isn't something to encourage. The unofficial reason is the potential power of the child."

"But… Dad's a Shinigami. He was a taichou." Toushiro just nodded. That wasn't too promising.

"He was exiled from Soul Society. His powers were diluted because he had children with a woman who had no real spirit power of her own."

"_Diluted_?" Ichigo's amazing powers were _diluted_?

"Yes. Any child born between two strong Shinigami could easily be a new Aizen. They just don't want to risk it. So captain-class Shinigami don't have children. Hisagi-fukutaichou was a special exception and your sister agreed to quite a few power-restrictions just to be with him. You're stronger than your twin." That was just one half of the bargain, too, wasn't it?

"And you're stronger than Hisagi-kun." He almost blushed. Seriously. It took me a moment to realise that, because this was Toushiro. Ice Man. Or boy, whatever you preferred, but I'd had it made perfectly clear to me that even though his size was enough to fool the rest of the world with, he was most definitely a man. And he was definitely holding back a blush.

"They'll…" the door opened. Somehow, Yuzu had managed to get to the library, pick up all those books and get back so soon. She must've had Ichi-nii carry her on his back while he used shunpo.

"These were the books Ukitake-taichou showed me before." Yeah, they would have told her about something like that if she was going to marry a fukutaichou, wouldn't they? Damn. _I won't let them do anything to you_, I promised the tiny consciousness inside silently, _whatever it takes, I'll get through_.

* * * * * * * *

It felt like I spent ages leafing through those bloody books. Most were about nobles and stuff; since Shinigami, as Toushiro pointed out, as a rule didn't have kids. I hadn't expected the news to spread, so I was pretty surprised when I was out walking and got cornered by no less than three taichou. Of course, with one of them being mister Master of the library Ukitake Juushiro, I shouldn't have been surprised at all. Kyoraku-taichou mostly kept to the background, but Kurotsuchi was really _way_ too curious for my liking.

"You must understand," Juushiro said, sounding pained, "it's a considerable risk for you and anyone close to you if you choose to go through with it. I couldn't even say what might happen with someone of your relative reiatsu. Maybe it would just be better…"

"No. No, that's not happening."

"This _is_ an intriguing prospect," Kurotsuchi said in that screechy monster voice of his. I didn't like this at _all_. "It could be an interesting experiment, oh yes." I'm glad I looked at Kyoraku-taichou instead of his peer just then. I would've missed the flash of irriation in his eyes, he was good at concealing stuff like that apparently, but it was still there. At least someone in this group was decent enough to not just hand me over to the mad scientist.

"I'm not giving up my daughter." Sheesh, how many times did I have to say it? What part of "no" didn't they understand? Kurotsuchi had the bad taste of reaching out, "just curiosity", I'm sure, but hell no! _I have to get out of here_… that was too much, way over the line and then some. _I'll let that monster touch me over my dead frickin' body!_

I needed to get out, get away, and my brain didn't register more than one option. I had to get out, back to where I belonged, to the real world. I had to… somehow… and that's when I saw a light, just at the edge of my field of vision, but I _knew_ it was there and I reached for it like there was nothing else left it the world for me. I couldn't exactly stay _here_. I forced the light open, I needed it too badly not to, and then I widened the gap in reality. I think I was sweating and the two less mad taichou were looking at me with worried frowns on their faces. Kurotsuchi, that bastard, just seemed intrigued. At least he was staying back now.

Then, just as the bright light was getting large enough to get through, just as the taichou were starting to look as if they'd gone through all the talking they had left and were ready to start acting… something flashed by and the gate home opened that last bit. I didn't even wait to see what had happened before stumbling into the nasty place between the worlds. Imagine, just for a moment, how wonderful it was to hear his voice behind me.

"I can't let you touch her. Matsumoto-fukutaichou knows what needs to be done." Heh. Did he always have a back-up plan or had he counted on me screwing up from the beginning? I kept stumbling forward as I heard a rumbling sound behind me. Then he was there, picking me up carefully.

"Toushiro."

"We need to get out of here. I collapsed the gate; the tunnel is falling apart now." With a few quick steps we were through to the other side; his shunpo really was amazing. But…

"Why are you here? I don't need to be rescued, I was doing just _fine_ on my own." Then the cheeky bastard had the nerve to raise an eyebrow and smirk at me before his usual stern face returned.

"Sometimes, it's worth making sacrifices." What the…?

"You _asshole_, put me down! I'm not some bloody damsel in distress!"

"_Hush_! You'll need that strength later." He sounded harsh, but the way he was cradling me in his arms while he ran told another story. The damn prat was right, too. I had done what needed doing, but the effects were going to be with us far down the road. Really, if mister Principles himself was breaking the rules to save his firstborn, I wasn't in a position where I could refuse his help. I fell asleep before we even reached Urahara's shop.

* * * * * * * *

"_Hitsugaya-taichou, what happened?_" I could hear their voices vaguely through the mist of exhaustion.

"_She needs rest, for now. And I need some things…_" I felt myself drift away for a moment. It felt like seconds, but when I drifted back, quite some time must have passed.

"…_seems like a rather risky situation to me._"

"_I know. There's no other option, though… unless you want to try convincing her to give it up and I wouldn't try that, if I were you._"

"_Yes, you told me about the reiatsu spike and the unauthorised world gate. Quite the remarkable woman you have here, to manage such a feat all alone…_" Stupid Urahara, always curious about everything.

"…_hardly accept such behaviour, I assume. The old man always did have a soft spot for genius, however._"

"_I did what needed to be done._"

"_And your haori?_"

"_I left it in Soul Society. You're too curious_…" Yes, most definitely. Would someone shut them up? I can't sleep like this.

"…_the best I can do, for now. I sympathise with your situation, I'm sure you understand._"

"_Enough, she's waking up._"

"_Of course, of course. We'll take care of the details later._"

"Toushiro?"

"Mmh?"

"Get over here so I can smack you over the head, you idiot."

* * * * * * * *

It was annoying enough that I had to spend all my time locked up in the Urahara Shop's basement weeks at a time. It was even worse when I went into the sixth month of waiting and my reiatsu started going all over the place, meaning I couldn't leave at all.

I also learned to respect the father of my little girl. He would twitch if I screamed at him, which happened a quite a few times during my period of confinement, but he would never back down. Never turn away. Maybe he'd left his captaincy at the door when he left Soul Society, but he still had the stuff that had taken him so far in the first place: a will of iron, an amazing mind and enough raw reiatsu to level a whole city. I'm sure the only thing keeping me sane those last three months was him. There wasn't exactly anyone else there, which was a blessing because it either meant that nobody had figured out where we'd gone yet or that they were leaving us in peace. I wasn't brave enough to assume it was the second, but more often than not I found it strange to think they'd be so stupid as to not find us in the most obvious place possible. I found out later that they _had_ been to Urahara's, but that man has more tricks up his sleeve at any given time than a tiger has stripes.

I suppose I'd always thought of childbirth as some sort of "getting from point A to point B" kind of thing. Well, that wasn't exactly applicable, as I found out. Toushiro would say that our girl was as feisty as her mother. I'd say he ought to shut up and get to work or he'd be looking feisty in the face. Of course, that's what he expected me to say. I think I cursed anything and everything from here to Heuco Mundo during those hours. In the end, though, she was the ugliest little angel I've ever seen.

* * * * * * * *

We never knew who fixed it, but somewhere along the way someone had bought a little house in the countryside, near the mountains in the north. Urahara assured us that it wasn't him, anyway. It was far from any neighbours, but within the range of some discreet shunpo steps we had everything we needed. It was strangely perfect. For the first two months we hardly spoke, neither of us really knew exactly what to say. I mean, what do you say to a one-time lover who's suddenly your only company? But that was the breaking point, too; being each others' only company, any need for closeness, contact and hearing someone's voice had to be through each other.

I think I even tried hating him for a while, but that didn't turn out too well. He's not the kind of man who takes well to being provoked. My little girl took up most of our time. It took us long hours to come up with a name; as much as it bothered me to remember then, Toushiro is her father. He had not only a right, but a duty to help me decide what we'd be calling her for the rest of our lives.

"Well, what was your mother's name?"

"Masaki, but we're not calling her that." He didn't ask why and I didn't offer an explanation. How would I explain to someone who is still a relative stranger even after all this time that thinking of the mom I never knew gives me shivers? "How about we name her after one of our friends?"

"Mmh, but _who_?" He was watching her little hands intently, as if his daughter might disappear if he looked away. _His daughter_. We'd barely spoken in so long, much less touched. The fledgeling friendship we'd had long ago had been suffocated by all the things happening around us. I thought long and hard about his question and realised there wasn't a single person except Yuzu I loved enough to name the horrid, loveable little pest after.

"Ugh, maybe that was a stupid idea."


End file.
